Westside elk lack of success

[MountainWalk]

Hey fellow s.  I hunt gmus 601 -602, sometimes ml sometimes rifke.    I'm having problems finding legal bulls.  I've been hunting this area for quite some time and know the portions I hunt pretty well. I have no problems finding elk. I'm consistently into elk. But I'm having a hard time finding legal bulls.           So, if I'm able to find so many elk, how come I can't find legal bulls?    Do roosevelt bulls shadow the herd after the rut?Is it safe to say that if you've found a herd, a mature bull isn't too far away?  I can hunt rcky mount elk with success, but afree many years, theses roosevelts have me against a wall

[Alan K]

By the time rifle season rolls around mature bulls have broken away from the cows again, and it's generally just rags you'll find in the herds, if any branched bulls since the rags too will break off.  Weird you aren't seeing legal bulls with herds during muzzleloader season. At least where I hunt I believe muzzleloader catches more of the rut than archery.  Most herds will have a branched bull during muzzleloader unless someone already got the bull out of the bunch, but it usually doesn't take long for another to fill the void.

 

[pd]

Mountain Walk, welcome back!

I don't have your answer (I have the same question...), but I would be happy to go out with you and discover the truth.

[_TONY_]

There are a lot of factors that can be at play, in regards to your situation, but if you're hunting ML and finding cow bunches without mature/legal bulls, it's either low bull density, the legal bulls have been harvested recently, or you just aren't looking hard enough 

Do you use calls much?

[Eli346]

 It seems to me like the legal bulls are always singles or doubles where there's a lot of pressure by hunters. I'm in an area where I don't see a lot of elk but between my partner and I we get a bull or two every year. We've gone without too but not often. I look into the deepest holes and work them slowly with my partner pushing from another side maybe 6-700 yds away. It's alway deep timber and we try to keep the wind in our face or crossing. I've put myself in a bad wind situation just to push a bull if we see fresh tracks or have a good feeling about one being in there. Of course I've got someone waiting on the downwind side.
 The weekdays after the hunting season opens on a Saturday seem to be pretty good to us also. They've been pressured for a couple of days and Monday or Tuesday are lucky for us.

[grundy53]

By the time rifle season rolls around mature bulls have broken away from the cows again, and it's generally just rags you'll find in the herds, if any branched bulls since the rags too will break off.  Weird you aren't seeing legal bulls with herds during muzzleloader season. At least where I hunt I believe muzzleloader catches more of the rut than archery.  Most herds will have a branched bull during muzzleloader unless someone already got the bull out of the bunch, but it usually doesn't take long for another to fill the void.

 

in my opinion during (rifle season) hunting branched bulls is like hunting blacktails. They are usually alone or maybe a group of 2 or 3. They'll be in good cover and they won't want anything to so with a herd.

sent from my typewriter

[grundy53]

It seems to me like the legal bulls are always singles or doubles where there's a lot of pressure by hunters. I'm in an area where I don't see a lot of elk but between my partner and I we get a bull or two every year. We've gone without too but not often. I look into the deepest holes and work them slowly with my partner pushing from another side maybe 6-700 yds away. It's alway deep timber and we try to keep the wind in our face or crossing. I've put myself in a bad wind situation just to push a bull if we see fresh tracks or have a good feeling about one being in there. Of course I've got someone waiting on the downwind side.
 The weekdays after the hunting season opens on a Saturday seem to be pretty good to us also. They've been pressured for a couple of days and Monday or Tuesday are lucky for us.

You beat me to it. Great advice!

sent from my typewriter

[Jonathan_S]

I have the opposite problem...  I found multiple legal elk this past archery season but never was able to consistently get into elk   

[snowpack]

Some herds have bulls with them during rifle season.  Last year the herd I had been after had three smaller bulls out of a herd of about twenty animals.  This year a different herd had twelve animals with two branch bulls one was a raghorn and the other a monster.  Usually find them in the steepest, deepest, darkest, most forsaken holes you can think of, places you wouldn't even think elk would go.  Like to put one person on the escape and the lead cow brings them right down the trail.

Oh, also 602 gets pounded pretty hard, and I heard it will get hit even harder this year because of boundary disputes.

[_TONY_]

I agree snowpack, 602 gets pretty hammered...

[MountainWalk]

I hunt about 19 miles down the hoko rd, and pressure never seems to be bad or heavy.  It's so frustrating.  I've even found multiple herds in one day.  Seems like the are always 2-8 spikes.  I mostly hunt blue lines and cul de sac ravines and canyons.    When I first started this roosevelt business, I did have two shotops at legal bulls . One with a bow. One with a gun. Just didn't take them.  Always next year

[duckmen1]

I always seem to see lone bulls and lone cows or a cow with calves. In season never see herds of more than 4. Even on trail cams always singles and tiny groups.
Except permit hunts I've been on seen good size herds.
Depending on area I go to depends on if I see bulls with cows. More often in a permit area.
Or when they are wintering I see good size herds.